Kelly Oubre plays hero in Joel Embiid's return vs. Thunder

Joel Embiid returned to the Sixers lineup and helped lead them to a win over the Thunder, but it was Kelly Oubre who played fourth quarter hero in Philadelphia’s 109-105 victory.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— Kelly Oubre had what I thought was a pretty bad night through three quarters, at least on offense. But the journey there was instructive, so let’s go on it together.

Regular readers know I have had some questions about how Kelly Oubre would readjust to an offense that revolves around Embiid. On night one of the ramp up, shifting back into a heavy catch-and-shoot role wasn’t working too well, with Oubre passing up some shots that looked open while firing away when he seemed covered.

Even as Oubre struggled to knock down shots, I thought it was critical that he still tried to impact the game however he could — he had an absolutely senational rotation to prevent a Lu Dort layup in the third quarter, and his off-ball awareness has been much improved for weeks now. Oubre’s versatility on defense has been super helpful, as he showed when he punked Chet Holmgren for a steal that he took coast-to-coast for a score, bringing the crowd to their feet in the fourth quarter.

And he finally found his offensive rhythm in the fourth, knocking down a wing three on a spot-up before pulling up for another one moments later. He would add a third from the corner during an Embiid-less stretch in the middle portion of the fourth, and when he hit his fourth three of the quarter, hardly anyone could have been surprised.

It is part of what makes Oubre exciting and often frustrating — the same ability to shrug off a tough start can lead him to shoot four more bricks because he believes they are all going in. But in tight games, you need a player with that sort of confidence, and as Oubre began to take control of the game, the Sixers were smart enough to let him, handing more and more on-ball reps as the game wore on.

That middle portion of the game and the commitment to what matters more than the missed shots or the heater. I will always have time for guys who commit themselves to doing whatever it takes to get a victory, especially as they’re struggling on offense. Oubre has increasingly proven he cares about the right stuff, and he deserves all the praise he’ll get for that.

— Joel Embiid played basketball. That would have been enough to put wind in everyone’s sails, regardless of the game’s result or Embiid’s level of performance.

(And let’s be clear — the overall team performance was pretty iffy. If it wasn’t for Embiid’s return, this would have been a hard game to sit through, and I say that as someone whose literal job is to sit through and analyze these games.)

There were two main topics for me coming into the game:

• How would Embiid look physically?
• How would Embiid look in tandem with his new Sixers teammates?

The answer to the first was “very good” with a small caveat about his game conditioning. Watching him in warmups and during the game, Embiid looked like a guy who had done whatever was possible to keep himself in shape while dealing with the knee rehab process. It wasn’t realistic to expect him to have the lungs to play his normal minutes yet, but when he was out there, I thought he moved well, covering ground decently enough in space and getting down the floor at the pace you’d hope. Tobias Harris hooked up with him on a long outlet in transition that saw Embiid sealing off two defenders before depositing a layup, a great early sign.

Embiid didn’t necessarily try to take command of the offense, with many possessions starting in his hands before quickly being tossed to a shooter or cutter as he worked into a rhythm. But with the Sixers not exactly firing on all cylinders, Embiid grew in stature as the first half wore on, getting up to his usual tricks around the elbows and out of the pick-and-roll.

Speaking of — if we’re focusing on the second bullet point, I thought his synergy with Kyle Lowry and Buddy Hield was relatively impressive when you consider these were their first real game reps together. Lowry and Embiid ran middle pick-and-roll fairly effortlessly, leading to an Embiid midrange jumper and a pair of free throws on consecutive possessions in the second quarter. Hield had some unforced errors, but you can already see the outline of a fruitful pairing there, with Embiid comfortable pinging passes and handoffs back and forth to free up the sharpshooter.

It does feel like defense could take more time for the big man, who allowed some guys to score in his orbit that normally wouldn’t dare to challenge him at the summit. Will the lift be there when it matters? That’s a fair question. But broadly speaking, this was an encouraging return, and he saved a massive defensive play for crunch time, stripping Josh Giddey on a crucial possession with 30 seconds to play. Welcome back, big guy!

— I feel a lot better about this team with Kyle Lowry on the floor, which is crazy to say about a 38-year-old guard.

The Bad

— The one area where I thought Embiid really struggled in this game was his navigation of pressure and double teams. I don’t think that’s a huge shock after a two-month layoff. But with it being one of his primary issues as a playoff performer over the course of his career, I’d say it qualifies as at least a minor concern.

The Thunder certainly deserve some credit for making Embiid’s life tough without a great individual defender to bother him. Oklahoma City sent consistent doubles, though they didn’t always come from the same spots on the floor, and they succeeded at keeping Embiid on his heels for a lot of the game. He needed to make quicker reads, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of time to get up to maximum sharpness.

But even when Embiid had the right read in mind, he had some issues on the execution side of things. The Thunder threw a double at him in the middle of the floor in the first half, and in a spot where it should have been easy to pass from, he threw it right into the arm of his closest defender to spring a fast break for Oklahoma City. Those are mistakes I think he’ll cut out in the future, but they certainly hurt the cause on Tuesday night.

— Tobias Harris wasn’t too interested in hunting his shot with Embiid on the shelf, and the second the big man returned, he changed that mentality. It’s sort of infuriating on one level, but it’s hard to ding him for doing precisely what everyone has asked him to do for the last half decade in Philadelphia.

With Tyrese Maxey sidelined once again, Harris ended up getting quite a few on-ball reps in Embiid’s return, working himself into the game with some early actions involving the big man. A pull-up three for Harris out of a pick-and-pop inspired a bit of confidence, and Harris kept letting the ball fly from the perimeter, hitting three of the four threes he attempted.

Harris appeared to be on the verge of a team-driving performance when he built on that momentum in the third quarter, only for things to come to a screeching halt in the fourth. He missed two shots on the same possession midway through the fourth, the first an airball and the second a three that barely touched the rim, prompting boos from the home crowd.

— We’ve been waiting for Buddy Hield to play next to Embiid for so long that his poor play has sort of flown under the radar. His first few games were a revelation, and he has had some strong outings recently, including a great second half vs. the Clippers last week. But the good moments have been outweighed by his poor outings, hence his shrinking role in Nurse’s rotation.

Tuesday night, I think he simply tried to do too much as a ballhandler. Hield has generally been decisive and has done a good job sharing the basketball, but he dribbled himself into trouble on more than one occasion, failing to make up for it with any sort of shooting boost off of the bench.

The Ugly

— Nick Nurse challenging a call 56 seconds into the game was very funny. Tony Brothers spending less time than that to declare that his atrocious call was correct, actually was slightly less funny. That man will never change.

Thought the crew did an objectively bad job in this game, and Embiid was on the wrong end of a couple of questionable calls. Certainly didn’t help.

— Salute to the home crowd for the constant boos of Josh Giddey. Stand on business, Philadelphia.